Life Update

So it's been a while since I've updated with what I've been up to. Finally back to loving Mexico but definitely excited to get back to the States as well. I have about 11 weeks left of work/school and 13 weeks till I head back. One of these days I swear I'll post about what I've been learning at ITAM and how work is going. It's why I came to Mexico but somehow always falls to the wayside when I'm blogging.

Back when I was going through my hostility stage (see post), I talked about a couple of the things that I thought were going to help in overcoming it.  Here is an update on a few of those things and a list of the trips/activities I think will keep me going in the weeks to come.

Things I've been up to:
With Work: 

• Went to a sustainable rural village
• Started working with MAR Fund and taking on more responsibility with fundraising campaigns 

This project funded by FMCN (where I work) is called Sustainable Rural Life and provides rural communities with eco-technologies (dry bathrooms, hot pots, solar panels etc) to allow families to live off of their resources and preserve the environment. 

In life: 

• Finished reading the Hunger Games and now on to the 2nd book of the Millenium series
• Started taking a Salsa class 
• Filed my taxes as an independent for the first time (this is exciting I swear) 
• Enjoyed time with my roommate (who had just moved in when I posted last) 
• Finished my blasted accounting course  

The roomie. Laura Bufi from Buenos Aires :)

With my travels: 

• Went Whale watching and played on sand dunes in La Paz 

 My new nickname among several FBs is Sand Dunes cause um..after this, I had a lot of sand in my pants and kinda made my own little sand dune in the baño. That sounds so gross...

My parents came and we:

• Visited San Miguel de Allende and Guanuajuato
• Got a massage from a blind man
• Went to Teotihuacan
• Went to Estadio Azteca and Basilica de Guadalupe covering the religious bases- God and Soccer 

Teotihuacan with the parentals 

Estadio Azteca is the largest stadium in Latin America and 5th largest in the world. 

• Went to see Kathleen Russell, (a friend from Vandy, fellow ASBer and overall baller at life)  in Queretaro
• Took a trip to Zipolite and Puerto Escondido during Semana Santa and had the following adventures: 
• Went to a turtle reserve 
• Stayed on a nudist beach (my friend went totally nude for the 1st time and LOVED it) 
• Went to a full moon rave on said nudist beach 
• Got an orthopedic massage under palm trees
• Got a braid woven into my hair thereby passing as a cool hippie all weekend
• Witnessed my very first bar fight-TERRIFYING

Zipolite is a nudist beach 

Proof that I was not naked on nudist beach

At my first rave 

Watching the Sun set in Puerto Escondido 

Prom Picture of FB's out to celebrate my 23rd

Things to look forward to:

• Joint birthday party with my friend Lulu
• Running a 5k! It's my first organized race and I'm really excited about it because I can now cross one thing off my 2012 resolutions list.
• Learning a lot in my Macroeconomics course 
• A trip to Puerto Vallarta in May 
• Launching the Aguila Real project on Global Giving 
• Spending July 4th in Cancun with all my fellow gringo tourists 

So things are going well for the most part. Still kinda missing friends from college and just having the stability that I was used to but I know that this year will be a good platform for me to head to Google and start over. It is unlikely that life in San Francisco will be as unstable as life in DF but I am sure it will come along with its own challenges and I will be ready to face 'em.

I walked to work the other day and started thinking about leaving Mexico and actually started tearing up. Getting choked up has become a new part of my being. I tend to tear up much more than I ever have in my entire life since I feel living here has these unbelievable highs followed by debilitating lows and since there is no legitimate explanation, I tend to have emotional as opposed to logical reactions. Still, I flippin' love Mexico. I think based on this post, you can probably see why.  Alright, soundtrack to my life:

                                                                     

#MexicoProblems

Water is such a basic service available to Americans, it seems ludicrous that you have to pay for water everywhere you go in Mexico. As in, if you want to use the bathroom or wash your hands outside of your home, it'll be about 20 cents. If you order a glass of water at a restaurant, they'll bring you a bottle and charge you. Looking for a drink of water at home? You'll find yourself buying one of these and paying for someone to lug it over: 

Our water man sells us a 20 liter jug for about 3 bucks and comes on Wednesdays 

Indeed, the water bottle industry in Mexico is booming. That is why I am convinced that even if there was a way for the Mexican government to fix the water scarcity issue, they still wouldn't. The water bottle industry would collapse. And while perhaps that isn't as important as the fall of the financial sector or the car industry, I can't help but feel that someone somewhere is lobbying hardcore against the installation of effective water systems. 

I have 11 weeks left in Mexico and I don't know much about my upcoming life in the States, but I can tell you this: I will never ever buy one of those Brita filter contraptions again. I was always a huge tap-water fan in the U.S but even more so now. It's free! It's clean! And in some places, they even add minerals for your teeth and bones! Oy Vey! You don't know how good you have it until you have to pay for water at a restaurant, or have to buy a tank of water when the city decides to shut it off for "conservation purposes", or until you can't open your mouth in the shower (see clip from Sex and the City: The Movie). 

The irony of Mexico City laying atop a lake bed only makes the weekly effort to secure hydration that much more comical. Yea, that's right. Mexico City is on a lake.  

In Mexico City, the over-exploitation of natural water sources and the small capacity of filtration systems has caused a permanent scarcity issue marred by a lack of potable water, conflicts with the neighboring communities that export water to Mexico City, and terrible flooding in the rainy season. Water supply has become a daily struggle for Mexican communities and while concerned authorities have recognized the problem, they have proven themselves incapable of proposing a viable solution.

In addition to the impact that water scarcity has on general public health, it is also a notable factor in the Mexican obsession with Coca-Cola. Mexico boasts the highest global sales of Coke alongside the highest rates of obesity in the world. In fact, as I wrote that sentence, I looked up and saw this in the ITAM study room. 

Yea, the only option is Coke...

For my Spanish speakers out there, here's a video that tells the story of how brilliant marketing strategies helped Coke take over Mexico. For the rest, an English video that gives a quick synopsis.

The water issue is just one of the things that defines the daily life in Mexico. I feel much better about this problem now that I've filled the jug in our apartment. Of course, I got in the shower this morning after a week out of town just to realize that we ran out of gas. #mexicoproblems.

Note: This piece was originally written in 2012, before we learned of equally deplorable water conditions right here in the U.S.  In 2015, I moved to New York and bought a Brita filter after turning on the sink in my new apartment, and finding a beige water supply. Guess this one turned out to be an #everywhereproblem. 

When Life Gives You a Head Nod

Carnaval in Veracruz, according to my incredibly reliable sources, is the 2nd best Carnaval in Latin America after Brazil. So we headed there last weekend to continue our exploration of Mexico and to Carnaval it up. Before even coming to Mexico, I had heard  that people from Veracruz are a lot more like Cubans than Mexicans and the week before Carnaval I heard a lot of stories about the happy and festive Veracruzano spirit (before having to sit through the obligatory "don't get shot" warning people always give). 

According to Wikipedia: 

Veracruz’s status as a port has made the city a blend of cultures, mostly indigenous, Spanish and Afro-Cuban. The influence of these three is best seen in the food and music of the area, which has strong Spanish, Caribbean and African influences.

We were definitely able to see those influences and the differences between Mexico City and Veracruz; differences I think manifested themselves mostly in the music and dance. People in Veracruz bump Reggaeton, Salsa, Merengue and Bachata everywhere. In front of convenience stores, pharmacies, restaurants, ice cream shops. It was just one huge party city. Somehow I don't think it was just a Carnaval thing. I really think these Veracruzanos just know how to get down. 


It was definitely one incredibly hectic trip that was also in some ways really emotionally charged. In the midst of all the romping around like crazies, there was actually a strange amount of significance to this trip. Little things here and there would pop up that in the grand scheme are probably just coincidences, but I'd like to take them as a head nod from life to remind me to cherish  the people and places that have been a part of my life, to enjoy the ones I have now, and to get excited for those to come.  

I'll break down the trip so you can see some examples of these head-nods and get an idea of how you live-up and take over a Carnaval in 2 days:

Getting there

For the 2nd time since I've been here, I've been in a taxi on the way to the bus station just to realize we'd never make it in time. It's really quite the "FML" moment because Mexico City traffic is no joke and tickets are non-refundable. Again we had to haul ass to a metro stop, cram into it with our luggage, pray that we made it in time and then jump out and sprint to the bus. We were late but somehow made it. We were just meant to Carnaval that weekend I suppose.


As soon as we settled down into our seats,  500 Days of Summer started up (it was Ironman 2 on the bus ride back). I bring it up because the chance that those 2 movies in particular were chosen is just some crazy cosmic way of life  winking at me and just the beginning of all the "head nods". It's awesome but I won't get into why here. We finally arrived in Veracruz at 11 pm. As in, we arrived at the bus stop. I suppose nights that start like that are just meant to be epic.

We explored the hotel, explored the main square and then headed out to celebrate. 

The view of the stage and the town square from our balcony. Model:Scott Wofford

The Food: 

The amount of eating on this trip was a little bit on the ludicrous side but you can't blame us. See pictures below: 

Bombas are essentially conchas filled with cream. I got my palm read as I ate this...yea that's right. 

Breakfast at 2 pm

 The Parade: 
The  parade started off with about 10 minutes of police and soldiers marching, driving or riding down the street to lots of cheering and applause. I guess it's a thanks from the community for restoring security in a city that has been plagued with a lot drug violence recently. 

The Police riding these strange tricycle things

After about an hour of standing in the crowd, we decided we didn't want to sit around and just observe the parade so we jumped behind a float and started prancing down the rest of the parade route. I'm sure this is illegal but somehow no authority figure seemed to mind that there were 3 Americans and a Canadian dancing around like a bunch a crazies (in masks) between a midst of perfectly choreographed dancers. 

Not sure how Carnaval goes in other places, but the floats and dancers blasted a lot of different kinds of music and more Salsa than expected. Below is my attempt to show you a glimpse of what was going on during the parade. It's kinda spliced and short but hey, I was Carnavaling people:

The Veracruz float

We had a few too many pictures of us modeling in these masks 

The Music: 

Now back to the head nod from life. 

As mentioned, Veracruzanos were supposed to be more like Caribbean folks than other Mexicans and I knew this going in, but the  music on this trip was a straight up soundtrack for my life at the moment. This was the case the entire time we were in Veracruz but most notably on our first night out.

When we walked into  La Casona, a club known most recently for the discovery of a severed head out front, the typical LMFAO-type craziness you expect was blasting. THEN, this man and his cover band showed up and decided to make this an epic night for me. 

You know how you have songs that have that ONE line that gets you every single time? Every song this man sang, was one of those. Most notably, my amigo sang: 

Yo no se Mañana-Luis Enrique

La Despedida-Daddy Yankee

Mientes-Camila

For blogging purposes, I even took a break from swooning like a 12 year-old Bieber fan, to take a video of this Cynthia-loving man singing "Tu Amor me hace Bien" by Marc Anthony

And no. That is NOT me screaming "I love you". 

Okay yes it is. 

Life, I give you a well-deserved head nod back.  Truly Amazing.

-Jarochos! A huevo! 

Binational Business Mid-Point

Today was our Fulbright Mid-Point Presentation. Only 4 months left working. It's nuts. Here is the link to the prezi I presented:

http://prezi.com/eck91itrqomn/copy-of-fulbright-binational-business-program/

My Days in Mexico City

Great video and a wonderful funk-buster :)

Overcoming the Hostility Stage

It's over. My "I LOVE MEXICO SO MUCH!!" stage. It's over now.

Unfortunately, it wasn't a slow and progressive trek to this point but more of an abrupt and violent crash. I went home and I liked it. I saw friends, my family, a huge chunk of my support system and I realized how much of it I've been missing in my frantic adventuring through Mexico.

My "honeymoon stage" was characterized by overwhelming excitement whenever I tried a new kind of taco, the constant search for blog-worthy subjects and a strong awareness that I am blessed to have this opportunity. It's been replaced with the "hostility stage" in which very few things are interesting, the "little things" (MetroBus) are unbearably annoying, and I wonder a little too often if I'd be happier in the States and at Google. Also, I had this other thing happen. But if you don't know about it, then we've probably not chatted recently.

I guess it's a good thing it took me a little longer to hit that "hostility" stage

From the conversations I've had with my college buddies, I'm pretty certain this is more of an adverse reaction to being an adult and dealing with real life than it is to Mexico in particular. No dorms, no meal plan, no weekly ragers, no consistent support network, no comfort zone and worst of all, the knowledge that the time in my life when I had all of this ended a very short time ago. I've dealt with my heartbreak, feeling lonely, many hours of reflection and being mad at myself and then many more fighting to lift myself out of that self-destructive funk. My friends and family have proven to be amazing. So many chatted with me, gave me advice, listened to me cry and just let me be sad. In all reality,  one of the hardest parts has been just accepting that it IS a bad month and just letting it be. It's strange how hard it is to admit that you're in a bad place and letting yourself feel all the emotions that come along with it. But it's okay to have those times. It is okay. I will be okay.

Luckily, through all the shambles, I've learned a couple of important lessons: 

1. Karma is a bitch.
2. Although Karma is a bitch, forgiving yourself and others is necessary. We make decisions and then deal with the consequences. That's life. No regrets. 
3. I can't spend life thinking in "What ifs" or in "If this happened, then...". I need to accept the present and be happy. It turns out that humans are hard-wired to be happy and that in looking at one's life, no matter how rich, beautiful or successful you are, a human will always try to make up ways that they could be happier.
4. For all the goals I have for myself, I spend way too much time thinking about love, dating and marriage. 
5. One day, I will wake up and smile about this.
6. Hip-hop and Vallenato are therapeutic musics. 

In that fight to get back to my old self I've tried to go on adventures, trips, and to events where I may not know people and really worked to get back to achieving those goals that I listed in my very first post. Some of the things that have really stuck out in that process are: 

• Skydiving
• Going to Xochimilco with new friends
• Seeing a Lucha Libre match
• Boat riding in Valle de Bravo
• Going to a hip-hop club in Mexico City

Went Skydiving on the 5 month anniversary of my arrival 

Boats are great places for thinking. And for listening to Ja Rule #Hartzogswag

In moving on, I have several things to look forward to including: 

• My new roomate from Argentina 
• My parents coming in 4 weeks
• Heading to Carnaval in Veracruz
• Whale watching in La Paz
• Finishing my Accounting class
• Turning 23 (actually this is terrifying) 
• Going to Cancun 

I'd like to end this post by saying that I will likely not post again until I feel I'm out of this stage because no one likes a mopey blogger.  To end on a postive note though, I'd like to add that in addition to the life lessons, another great thing about this past month has been that I've had the chance to look back, listen to music and laugh a little bit. As usual, Drake has been a big part of my play list (The Motto and HYFR are good to start the day) but here are 2 that have been ESSENTIAL and also hilarious. One is a vallenato song with genuinely helpful lyrics and the other is just feel good music. Posting both of these makes me smile, because they are a sign of how different relationships and experiences, good or bad, contribute to who you are at the end of the day. Appreciating that and seeking more of those relationships and experiences, will be key to my moving on. 

Rosa Parks-Outkast 

Agua-Carlos Vives 

"He andado muchos caminos, he buscado mil tesoros,

 Yo te digo que la vida, vale mas que todo el oro"

  -You Only Live Once 

Coming to America

Went home for Christmas and it was amazing. Got to see friends and family and had time to sleep and watch Law and Order: SVU. Now I'm back in Mexico after 12 days in the States and felt the need to comment on some of the things that were most striking when I was home. They were the kind of things that made me wonder how scared and shocked a person immigrating to the U.S must be.

Within 2 minutes of being back, I made 2 rookie "not from America" mistakes. First, I bought a water bottle. I never bought water bottles in the States. I'm a firm believer in tap water's credibility and am obsessed with the whole concept of free clean water after 4 months of living somewhere where you can get sick if you swallow too much water in the shower. When I went to pay for the water bottle, I was excited to use my debit card so I handed it eagerly to the cashier. He definitely gave me a "wtf woman" look (much like the one the tamale man gave me in the Trust Issues post) and pointed at the card-swipe machine in front of the register. Yep, haven't seen one of those in a bit.

As I walked around the airport I was amused by the tiniest details. I especially enjoyed noticing that:  most restaurant tables have a bottle of ketchup, flushing toilet paper is a delightful luxury,  Beats headphones have been quite successful (judging by how often I saw them at the Dallas airport) and that as promised, military personnel were in fact all heading home for the holidays. The airport was packed with soldiers. Sometimes there were even soldiers with Beats headphones! Giggity.


I would have to say though that the most exciting part of being back, as weird as it sounds, was seeing African-Americans. I have only seen 2 black people  in the 4 months I've been in Mexico (and one of them was French) so it was absolutely amazing to see just how racially, ethnically and culturally diverse the U.S is. There are tons of people of different cultures and ethnicities in Mexico too, but not like in the States. In celebration, I decided to dedicate a good amount of time in Nashville to catching up on the latest hip-hop jams, pop songs, favorite oldies, and most importantly, Drake. I found that I listened to the following songs quite a bit:

112-Dance with Me

Drake-So Proud of You

The Weeknd-Wicked Games

You know you like it. Just skip to :58 so you don't have to sit through the Beanie Sigel part :) 

AND I heard this song for the first time: Cobra Starship-You Make me Feel. I think they play it all the time on the radio in the States but I hadn't heard it yet and now it brings a whole new level of excitement to my workout.

Me and the fam on Christmas Eve

I'm not gonna lie, I was sad to get on the plane. I knew that the honeymoon stage with Mexico was over and that I was coming back to face a completely different experience. Now that I'm back, I've decided that Mexico is no longer my passionate lover but more of a caring husband. It's a different kind of love but it's definitely still there. Flying over DF was just as spectacular as the first time. It's a behemoth of a city, so unorganized, so chaotic but so perfect in it's own way. Here's to 2012 in Mexico.

My 1st glimpse of the city